Marlyn Flores

Marlyn Flores
Annotated Bibliography
Picture Books:
Guy, Ginger Foglesong. My Grandma: Mi Abuelita. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 2007. 19 pages. Ages Newborn-5. Genre: Fiction Picture book. Language: English & Spanish.

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This beautiful picture book is about a small family of three; a father, daughter and son that travel on airplane to see their grandmother. This book is very short and simple with large colorful pictures depicting a traveling journey. This book emphasizes relationships within families and also points out varies things that can be seen when traveling. The translation and illustration facilitates the understanding of children. The author Ginger Foglesong Guy was raised in Mexico, Arizona, Costa Rica and also Switzerland. She is now living in Washington and has been extremely famous for her bilingual books; ¡Fiesta!, Mi Escuela and ¡Siesta!

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In my personal opinion I think that this is a great book to introduce to young students who are beginning readers. It is a great book for bilingual students due to the translation and the enlarged wonderful pictures. I think that students will be able to relate to this book and make connections to their own experiences since it explains how a family travels to see their grandmother. Besides the traveling experience, this book can also address family; single dad with two children and still being a loving and successful family. The only thing that concerns me is how children will react if a touchy subject such as family is being discussed. As a future teacher I am going to learn a lot about my classroom students so that will help out when introducing this book to them.

Guy, Ginger Foglesong. Fiesta. New York: Greenwillow Books, 1996. 29 pages. Ages Newborn-5. Genre: Picture book. Language: English & Spanish.

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This book is another book written by Ginger Foglesong Guy. This is a English book translated in Spanish. It is about the varies things that are needed to create a gigantic piñata and later break it to form a fiesta which means party. It illustrates how children go shopping for such things which can also be connected to children’s behavior when shopping. This book is great to introduce numbers and culture. When a number is introduced there is a picture to go with it, illustrating the number with objects and candies that can go in a piñata. The author of this book is a married woman with a BS degree in Early Childhood Education from University of Virginia.

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Even though this is a picture book I feel that it is a great book to introduce to students when they are just learning their numbers. Rene King Moreno is a great illustrator and it is being proven in this book. I think that using pictures is a great way for children to learn and also keep them engage in their learning. The pictures serve as a great adaptation for students with special needs. I truly recommend this book to others; not only children but also adults. Besides loving the pictures I also like this book because it introduces culture. The purpose of the piñata and also the creation of it is very interesting and with this book readers can learn the basic of a piñata.

Cisneros, Sandra. Hairs: Pelitos. New York: Dragonfly Books, 1994. 22 pages. Ages 5-10. Genre: Fiction Picture Book. Language: English & Spanish.

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This book contains much more text compared to Fiesta or My Grandma and it’s also translated. This book is describing a family that does not look the same. It addresses how everyone has different hair from one another; hair like a broom, lazy, slippery, or like fur. The pictures have great colors and also everyone in the family have different color skin. Cisneros’ books include poetry, children's books, and two novels. Cisneros is very well know for the famous novel The House on Mango Street .She has been awarded a Parenting Magazine Best Children's Book of the Year, the American Book Award, the Lannan Literary Award and was named a MacArthur Fellow in 1995.

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This book is great to introduce to children of young ages. When I read this book the first thing that came to mind was uniqueness and individuality. With this book it is easy to understand that we are all individuals that can be similar or different in many ways, but are still humans. I recommend this book to be in a teacher’s classroom because nowadays children tend to judge by appearances which keeps them from understanding and respecting one another. This book can teach a very good lesson to everyone without putting students to sleep. It is a very exciting book and it’s free from stereotyping.

Picture Story Boooks:

Herrera, Juan Felipe. Grandma and Me at the Flea. San Francisco, California: Children’s Book Press, 2002. 32 pages. Ages 6 and up. Genre: Fiction Picture Story Book. Language: English & Spanish.

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The award-winning Mexican American author Juan Felipe Herrera wrote the wonderful book “Grandma and Me at the Flea.” This book is full of large, colorful pictures that represent the story of a young boy and his grandmother named Esperanza surviving poverty. They both sell used and new clothes at the flea market where other friends from the community also have their own stands. This book shows the relationships between members of the community and how they all struggle for a living, but at the same time support each other and live without selfishness. The author Juan Felipe Herrera currently lives in Fresno, California and he is one of the foremost Mexican American poets writing today. His goal is to awaken students' appreciation of their own voice, cultural life, and personal expression. Herrera has received Americas Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature.

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This picture story book is one of the best narrative and illustrated book I have read. It’s a book that students will like to have in a classroom library because they will be able to relate to. The various things that are being sold in a flea market such as verduras (vegetables), clothes, Mexican wool blankets, tools, etc. can bring back memories to everyone just like it did to Herrera. Besides the cultural aspect; this book is great to discuss relationships, economic situations, sharing, and humanities. Due to the many topics that can be discussed with this book children can also enjoy many activities. That is why I truly recommend teachers to get this book for their classroom library.

Chapter Books:

Lobel, Arnold. Days with Frog & Toad. New York, NY: Harper Collins Publisher, 1979. 64 pages. Ages 4-8. Genre: Fiction Chapter Book. Language: English.

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This is a beginner chapter book that consists of 5 short chapters. Each page is somewhat divided; half of it is a picture and the rest is text. This book is about the friendship of a frog and a toad and how they are used to being together for one another. The frog serves as the oldest and mature friend who seems to guide, support and advice toad in everything he does. The author Arnold Lobel wrote and/or illustrated over 70 books for children including this one. This book received many awards such as the Caldecott Honor, Horn Book Fanfare, ALA Notable Children’s Book, Library of Congress Children’s Books and the National Book Award for Children’s Literature.
This is a great book for students who are ready to make the transition from a picture story book to a chapter book. This book contains much more text but still has a small picture in each page that illustrates the things that toad and frog do together. I really recommend this book because it is easy for many children to relate to. Days with Frog and Toad is an interesting book since it shares how two amphibians are very close friends and enjoy doing a lot of things together like fly a kite, telling scary stories, and celebrate birthdays. These are things that humans do so children will be able to make connections. The only thing that I did not like is the pictures. Even though it had pictures in each page the pictures are not as colorful as I would like them to be.


Flor, Alma. Me Llamo Maria Isabel. New York, NY: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1993. 60 pages. Ages 7-14. Genre: Fiction Chapter Book. Language: Spanish (Available in English).

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This book is about a nine year old girl named Maria Isabel who transferred to a new school 2 months after the school year started. As an Hispanic new students she was having trouble adapting to the new pronunciation (new name) she was given. It was not Maria, instead it was Mary. Due to that she was considered to be one that doesn’t pay attention, when it was really that she wasn’t used to be called Mary. Alma Flor is a very famous and wonderful award-winning author of numerous children’s books and a philosopher of bilingual education. Me Llamo Maria Isabel is a Notable Book in the area of Social Studies, National Council of Social Studies and the Children’s Book Council. It is a pick of the List, American Booksellers Association, 1997.

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Me Llamo Maria Isabel is a wonderful book that many Hispanic students in the United States can relate to. I am extremely amazed on how not only children can relate to it but also adults. This is a very intense book that all teachers should have in a classroom. This book exposes everyone to understand what culture, respect, and values are. I really like this book and recommend it to everyone. It is an easy way to understand how there is time that students get underestimated because they are not being cultural understood.

Contemporary Realistic Fiction Books:
Garza, Carmen Lomaz. In My Family: En Mi Familia. San Francisco, California: Children’s Book Press, 1996. 32 pages. Ages 5-14. Genre: Non-Fiction. Language: English & Spanish.

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Even though this book is labeled as Non-Fiction, I consider it to be contemporary realistic fiction. This book is full of 13 wonderful realistic stories based on the personal experiences of Garza. The stories that are being told include; Cleaning Nopalitos, Easter Eggs, Earache Treatment, The weeping woman, The Virgen of Guadalupe and many more. This book contains wonderful enlarged colorful pictures and also has a translation in Spanish. Garza has received awards such as The Tomás Rivera Mexican American Children's Book Award, Pura Belpré Honor Book Award and many more. For this particular book she received the Americas Picture Book Award.

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This book is great to have in a classroom since it emphasizes culture, values, morals, beliefs, religion, and celebrations. It is amazing how I was able to make connections to some of the things she experience. I am sure many children will also be able to make the same connections enhancing their comprehension. This book is very good to expose students to varies cultures and celebrations that are going on around the world. Students feel very comfortable to know that they are not alone and have books that bring back memories. That is why I recommend this book to be in a classroom library.

Traditional Literature Books:

Ata, Te. Viborata de Cascabel. San Francisco, California: Children’s Book Press, 1996. 32 pages. Ages 4-10. Genre: Folklore. Language: Spanish (Available in English)

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Ata is a Native American author; Chickasaw Indian storyteller. This book is a great picture book that can teach a lesson to many children. It is about a baby rattlesnake that really wanted to get his own rattle and be like the rest of the rattlesnake community. At the end, he was given a rattle but it was so that he can learn a lesson; he is too young to take responsibility and needs to be patient and wait for his time to come.

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This book was a very interesting and easy to understand the moral of it. I like the fact that it can be related to the many struggles and problematic situations that children may have to go through while growing up. Sometimes children want to grow up faster than others and experience adult things. This book will help them understand and see things in a rattlesnake’s perspective. The pictures are also very colorful making the book interesting and attractive to children. A lot of geometric shapes are incorporated in the pictures.

Hen, R.L.. La Gallinita Roja y los Granos de Trigo. London: Mantra Lingua, 2005. 31 pages. Ages 3-8. Genre: Fable. Language: Spanish & English.

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This short picture book is about a red hen that needs help planting some grains she found. She went all around asking all the farm animals including the cat, the dog and the goose to help her plant some grains but nobody wanted to. Once she planted the grain all by herself and got it baked all the farms animals wanted to help her eat it, but she did not let them. The hen shared the bread with those who did help her. This book is a winner of the UK National Literacy Association Award for the best children’s titles.

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I really like this book because of the all the bright illustrations and repetition that is being incorporated. It is a book that will catch a student’s attention by just looking at the cover. This book is great to introduce to children when teaching about cooperation, friendship, and selfishness.
It is neat that this book also emphasizes a lot of repetition which is something that children catch right away and enjoy it.

Simmons, Steven J. Alicia y Greta. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge Publishing. 32 pages. Ages 3-7. Genre: Fiction. Language: Spanish (Available in English)

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This is a magical book that describes how 2 witches have received the same education in the same magical school they attended. The only thing is that they were very different in how they looked at things. One witch seemed to be the good one and the other one was the total opposite. At the end of the story the bad witch paid for being the way she is. Steven is the author of the best-selling children's book including this one. He was inspired to write the story while playing with his children on a hill behind his home. This book has received the awards such as Children's Bestseller List, and IRA/CBC Children's Choice Award.

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This book is one my favorite ones! The illustrations are amazing due to the usage of vibrant colors. Colors that will catch every child’s attention. I recommend this book to everyone because it teaches a very important lesson and many activities can be taken from this book to enhance a child’s comprehension. I read this book with my little niece and she seemed to love it. She was amazed with the various things the good and bad witch did. It was unbelievable how she understood the moral of the book before we finished reading it.

Contemporary Fantasy Books:
Herrerra, Juan Felipe. Super Cilantro Girl: La Superniña del Cilantro. San Francisco, California: Children’s Book Press, 2003. 32 pages. Ages 6-up. Genre: Fiction. Language: English & Spanish.

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The theme of his book is about a little girl that transformed into Super Cilantro Girl. She is color green and grew to a large size. She has experience many obstacles in life but the one she is most concern of is that her mother is in Mexico and cannot come back because she is not a citizen. She is willing to do anything to be together to her mother. This book is full of wonderful bright pictures and landscapes by the prize-winning illustrator Honorio Robledo Tapia. The Mexican American author of this spectacular book is a winner of the Latino Hall of Fame Poetry Award. He is author of other great books like Calling the Doves, The Upside-Down Boy, and Grandma and Me at the Flea.

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This book is also one of my favorite ones because even though it is a fantasy book it can be very inspirational to many children. There are many children in this world who experience the same situation as Super Cilantro Girl. I think that by reading this book they can see that they are not alone and that there are many people trying to do everything to be next to their love ones. This book teaches persistence, appreciation, social issues, and also helps expand the imagination if students. I truly recommend this book to be in a classroom library. Many students and adults can relate to some of the situations that Esmeralda experience. Social issue discussions are now the most important discussion that children and teacher can have, but it is important how such issues are being approached when speaking to children.

Dorros, Arthur. Abuela. New York, NY.: Dutton Children’s Books, 1991. 40 pages. Ages 4-up. Genre: Fiction Picture Book. Language: Spanish (Available in English).

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This book is about a little girl and her grandmother who use their imagination to fly around the city of Manhattan. In their adventurous tour they visit people and places that meant a lot to the grandmother. This book received many awards such as the ALA Notable Children's Book, a Library of Congress Children's Book of the Year and a "Parents' Choice" Award winner. The author of this book lives in Seattle and experienced the same good relationship with his grandmother as the little girl in the story. This book is full of large colorful pictures in every page.

In my opinion, this is a very nice book that can help children expand their imagination and also know that dreaming is something that can be very adventurous. I love the wonderful pictures that were created with watercolors, pastels, inks, and cut paper. It’s is a beautiful scenery that grandma and Rosalba saw while taking their adventurous trip over the city. This fantasy story is one that I really recommend for children to read. The imagination is the best thing children can use in order to explore the so call “impossible.”

Historical Fiction Book:
MacLachlan, Patricia. Sarah, Plain and Tall. New York, NY.: Harper & Row, 1985. 58 pages. Ages 7-11. Genre: Historical Realistic Fiction. Language: English.

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Patricia MacLachlan has received the Newbery Medal for this book and was named ALA Notable Books and ALA Best Books for Young Adults. She is a lecturer of children’s literature and author of other books such as Arthur, For the Very First Time; Cassie Binegar; and Unclaimed Treasures. Sara, Plain and Tall is actually based on an even of the history of MacLachlan. This book presents a story of 2 kids in who lives changes when their mother died and father advertises that he was looking for a wife and mother of his kids. The two children end up loving the lady who responded to the advertisement but now the problem is that she misses home. As much as she missed home she also realized that the love she earned from the children was incomparable. She ended up staying with them and served as the wife and mother of the two kids.

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When I read this book I was amazed how back in the days men would actually find themselves a wife by just advertising it on the newspaper. It was surprising how the children adapted to that life style and accepted another lady as their adopted mother. This book contains strong content that might bring back memories to children. If a teacher introduces this book to students she will have to find a way to introduce it in a positive way. Even though is contains strong content, students can get a lot of good information and a lesson from this book. Children experience a loss in the family all the time so knowing that they are not alone and that there is times where certain decisions have to get made can make them feel better. I truly recommend this. I can say that this book can comfort many students who experience the same thing.
Survival Story Book:
Paulsen, Gary. Hatchet. New York, NY.: Children’s Publishing Division, 1987. 195 pages. Ages 9-up. Genre: Fiction. Language: English.

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This book is a Newbery Honor book and has awards such as A Publisher Weekly Best Book, An ALA Best of The Best Books for Young Adults and many more. This book is about Brian; a young 13 year old city boy who faces a terrible tragedy. The airplane in which he traveled crashed and then finds himself in a secluded area; the wilderness. Brian finds himself in a place where he now has to find a way to survive. As days pass by he goes through many changes and learns more about himself.

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In my opinion this was an amazing book where students can learn about the struggles and how to overcome them. There are times where students have trouble being confident or have low self-esteem. With this book students can understand how strong one can be an overcome the hardest struggles they can face throughout their life. I feel that students should have the opportunity to read this book. Survival story books can make a great impact in a student’s life. It allows students to look at things in different perspectives.
Non-Fiction Books:
Brown, Monica. My Name is Celia: Me Llamo Celia. Flagstaff, Arizona: Luna Rising, 2004. 33 pages. Ages 5-up. Genre: Biography. Language: English & Spanish.

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Monica Brown wrote this book as an attribute to the famous Cuban artist of all time, Celia Cruz. She presents an inspiring story of Celia from when she spent her childhood years in the Havana up until she moved to the United States to pursue her singing career. The illustrator Rafael Lopez did a fantastic job with all the pictures. He has received a Gold, Bronze and Silver awards from the Society of Illustrators. Monica Brown is an author who is extremely inspired by Celia Cruz. Due to her hard work in this book, she has received the Americas Book Award and the Pura Belpre Honor Book Award.

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In my opinion, I feel that this is an excellent book for children to read. It proves how anyone can become who they want to be as long as they are persistent and never give up. The biography of Celia is an inspiring story that many children can relate to. This book has the most amazing pictures I have seen. I can say that the illustration will attract every child’s attention and engage them to the content of this literature. I truly recommend this book to be in a teacher’s library because it has a variety of information that can be used to create educational activities. The cultural awareness aspect can be very interesting to children who are not aware or have not explored other customs.

Paulen, Gary. La Tortillería. NewYork, NY: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1995. 32 pages. Ages 4-8. Genre: Non-Fiction Picture Book. Language: Spanish (Available in English.)

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Even though this book if mostly large colorful pictures, Gary Paulsen still accomplished to establish a point. This book describes in a simple way how to create tortillas. It explains from when the soil is ready to get harvest up until when the corn is ready to make tortillas. Gary Paulen is one of America's most popular writers for young people and young adult. Other popular book and novels he wrote include Hatchet, Dogsong, and The Winter Room. His books frequently appear on the best books lists of the American Library Association.
This book is the simplest book you can read to children and still help the children achieve a high level learning. With this book students are able to understand the harvesting process of a tortilla. The amazing illustrations by his wife Ruth Wright Paulsen accompany the text bringing life to the story. This book is great to have in a classroom because children can be involved in many activities that can incorporate the process of a tortilla. This book will help them comprehend the cultural aspect of the tortillas and how there is a particular process for things that grow.

Poetry Books:
Alarcon, Francisco X. From the Bellybutton of the Moon and Other Summer Poems. San Francisco, California: Children’s Book Press, 1998. 32 pages. Ages 5-15. Genre: Children’s Poetry. Language: English and Spanish.

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Francisco Alarcon, an award-winning poet and educator has written numerous books for both children and adults. Other books he wrote include Iguanas in the Snow and Other Winter Poems, and Laughing Tomatoes and Other Spring Poems. This particular poetry book contains more than 20 poems. These are poems that are based on Alarcon’s memories from when he was a child living in Mexico. Alarcon has received many awards for all the pieces of work he has written. Some of the awards include Cooperative Children’s Book Center Choice, Library Journal’s Americas Award Commended List and the Pura Belpre Award.

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This book is also one of my favorites. I am very pleased about the wonderful illustrations by Maya Christina Gonzalez. I believe that having illustrations facilitates learning and also makes it fun for a student when learning. There are types where poems are just too difficult to understand and make children dislike poetry, but this book does the total opposite. The poems are very short and are very well translated. These poems are very fun to read and interesting because some of the topics are similar to what some students see in their everyday life. This book will be a great to have in a classroom library. Diversity can be very fun when learning.


Ada, Alma Flor. Gathering the Sun: An Alphabet in Spanish and English. Harper Collins, 1997. 40 pages. Ages 4-10. Genre: Poetry. Language: Spanish & English.

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Alma Flor Ada does a wonderful job in the creation of about 27 poems that are in this book. All the poems are related to the harvest, the farm workers and their own heritage. Some of the poems talk about César Chávez, the trees, love, birds, tomatoes, Mexico, pride and Yucatán. This book has been one of the bestselling books and received many awards such as the NCSS/CBC Notable Book, Once Upon A World Book, Pura Belpré, and the NCTE Notable Book.

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When I read this book full of poetry I was extremely amazed. I liked the fact that it contained narrative poems and also some that rhymed. I immediately fell in love with the illustrations. The bright colors, shading and use of brush stokes made the paintings come alive. I really recommend for this book to be in a classroom library because of the variety of information that can be retain from each poem. Each poem can allow the students to explore culture, heritage and to learn about struggles that farmers face in their daily life. Having pride of your own culture is the best thing one can express. Students need to learn that and this book does a great job in introducing it.

Alarcon, Francisco X. Angels Ride Bikes and Other Fall Poems. San Francisco, California: Children’s Book Press, 1999. 31 pages. Ages 4-8. Genre: Children’s/ Juvenile Poetry. Language: Spanish & English.

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This poetry book has a lot to do with the Mexican American poet Alarcon. This book has poems that celebrates the place where Alarcon grew up which is New York. Alarcon tries to emphasize that his hometown is a place where everything can come true; all you have to do is use your imagination. Some of the poems in this book also honor his family and friends like the poem called “Family Recipe” or “My Mother’s Hands.” Alarcon is a great poet that has received many awards such as the Gold Award in the category of book of Folklore, Poetry & Songs, and the Américas Award Commended Title. The artist Maya Christina Gonzalez also did a great job with the illustrations. All colors used are very vivid and the painting technique she used was unbelievable.

This is another book that I consider one of my favorites. As a future teacher I need to start thinking about what my students are going to be attracted to and the various things they would want to learn. When I read all the poems from this book and read how the illustrator created the pictures I was very astonished. The illustrations used in this book were created by actual pictures that were taken of family and friends. Gonzales used the pictures taken and painted over them which made the book come alive. Her work has been in many magazines and created artwork for more than 20 multicultural award-winning children's books. This is one of the books that students need to be exposed to because it allows them to use their imagination, have a magical experience and question about cultural topics. Some of these poems were narrative since it described Alarcon’s mother, family and friends.

Young Adult Novel:
Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. New York, N.Y.: Berkley Publishing, 1954. 208 pages. Ages 13-up. Genre: Fiction. Language: English

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William Golding, a Nobel Prize -winning author presents the story of a group of children that get stranded on an island after a terrible accident. The group of boys get together and try to set rules in order to be civilized. Later on, the boys begin to discover their true dark nature and abandon their humane sense of right and wrong. Intentional slaughter and accidental murder begin to occur which show the boys’ loss of morals, consciousness, and rationality. All events symbolize something at the end there is the represents the end of democracy, hope, innocence, civilization, and more importantly, the definite end of the individual’s common sense. All the brutally and sense of not being civilized or used to rules and politics has made a great impact in his life. This book made 70 on the American Library Associations' list of the 100 most frequently challenged Books, it was chosen by TIME magazine as one of the 100 best English-language novels.

When I first read this book I was very amazed of all the symbolism and the intensity of all the events that occur in this book. This is a great book for young adults who are able to understand humanism. Even though this book has 12 chapters it is going to be hard for the reader to put it down. The more pages I read the less I wanted to put it down. With this book many young adult students are able to understand how civilization and rules play a great part on our daily lives. I recommend this book, but before introducing to students one need to make sure that the students are prepared for some of the events that occur in some of the chapters.